Overlay contrast control in augmented reality displays

• US 10,235,788 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2017
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Inventors: Tinsman, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Lett, Thomas J
• Application Number:
  US15/407,491
• Publication Number:
  US 20180204362A1
• Time in Patent Office: 791 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/537 using indicators, e.g. showing the condition of a game character on screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2012 Colour editing, changing, or manipulating; Use of colour codes

Abstract

Example embodiments provide systems and methods for overlay contrast control in augmented reality displays. In an example method, contrast enhancement data including data describing at least a portion of a background image for presentation under an informational overlay on a display device is accessed. The informational overlay includes at least one of a graphical element or a textual element to partially obscure a scene. Data identifying at least a portion of the information overlay under which the background image is to be presented is generated. The background image is presented on a display device atop the portion of the scene corresponding to the portion of the informational overlay, and the information overlay is presented on the display device atop the background image and the scene.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

accessing, using at least one of one or more hardware processors, contrast enhancement data describing at least a portion of a background image for presentation under an informational overlay on a display device, the informational overlay comprising at least one of a graphical element or a textual element to partially obscure a scene;

accessing scene change data indicating a change in the scene;

based on the scene change data, identifying, using at least one of the one or more hardware processors, at least a portion of the informational overlay under which the background image is to be presented;

causing, on the display device, presentation of the background image atop a portion of the scene corresponding to the at least a portion of the informational overlay; and

causing presentation of the informational overlay atop the background image and the scene on the display device.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing presentation of the scene on the display device.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, the contrast enhancement data comprising data indicating a background pattern to be used for the background image, the causing of the presentation of the background image comprising repeating the indicated background pattern.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, the contrast enhancement data comprising data indicating a color for the background image, the causing of the presentation of the background image using the indicated color.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, the contrast enhancement data comprising data indicating a brightness for the background image, the causing of the presentation of the background image using the indicated brightness.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay based on a brightness of the portion of the scene corresponding to the identified portion of the informational overlay.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay based on a visual complexity of the portion of the scene corresponding to the identified portion of the informational overlay.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, the causing of the presentation of the background image atop the portion of the scene comprising causing temporal modulation of the background image.

9. The computerized method of claim 1, the scene change data comprising an indication of a portion of the scene corresponding to an object of interest in the scene signified by the identified portion of the informational overlay.

10. The computerized method of claim 9, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay occurring in response to the object of interest entering the portion of the scene.

11. The computerized method of claim 9, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay occurring in response to the object of interest exiting the portion of the scene.

12. The computerized method of claim 9, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay occurring in response to the object of interest encroaching within a particular perceived distance to a vantage point of the scene.

13. The computerized method of claim 9, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay occurring in response to the object of interest exiting from a particular perceived distance to a vantage point of the scene.

14. The computerized method of claim 9, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay occurring in response to the scene change data indicating a magnitude of the change in the scene exceeding a particular level during a period of time.

15. The computerized method of claim 9, the identifying of the at least a portion of the informational overlay occurring in response to the scene change data indicating a magnitude of the change in the scene falling below a particular level during a period of time.

16. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing a current version of the scene to a previous version of the scene; and

generating the scene change data based on the comparing of the current version of the scene to the previous version of the scene.

17. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving movement data indicating movement of the display device; and

generating the scene change data based on the movement data.

18. The computerized method of claim 17, the movement data indicating translational movement of the display device.

19. The computerized method of claim 17, the movement data indicating rotational movement of the display device.

20. A display system comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

a memory having stored therein instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more hardware processors, cause the display system to perform operations comprising;

accessing contrast enhancement data describing at least a portion of a background image for presentation under an informational overlay on a display device, the informational overlay comprising at least one of a graphical element or a textual element to partially obscure a scene;

accessing scene change data indicating a change in the scene;

based on the scene change data, identifying at least a portion of the informational overlay under which the background image is to be presented;

causing, on the display device, presentation of the background image atop a portion of the scene corresponding to the at least a portion of the informational overlay; and

causing presentation of the informational overlay atop the background image and the scene on the display device.

21. The display system of claim 20, further comprising the display device.

22. The display system of claim 21, the operations further comprising generating one or more signals including information describing the scene, the background image, and the informational overlay, and the display device configured to emit light representing the scene, the background image, and the informational overlay based on the one or more signals.

23. The display system of claim 20, further comprising a motion detection device coupled to the display device, the motion detection device configured to generate movement data indicating movement of the display device, the operations further comprising generating the scene change data based on the movement data.

24. The display system of claim 20, the operations further comprising:

comparing a current version of the scene to a previous version of the scene; and

generating the scene change data based on the comparing of the current version of the scene to the previous version of the scene.

25. The display system of claim 20, the operations further comprising causing presentation of the scene on the display device.

26. The display system of claim 20, wherein:

the scene comprises a view of a physical environment;

the display device comprises a transparent material through which the physical environment is viewed;

the display system further comprises a projection device; and

the causing of the presentation of the background image and the causing of the presentation of the informational overlay comprise projecting the background image and the informational overlay using the projection device onto the transparent material.

27. The display system of claim 20, wherein:

the scene comprises a view of a physical environment;

the display device comprises a transparent material through which the physical environment is viewed; and

a light-emitting system coupled to the transparent material; and

the causing of the presentation of the background image and the causing of the presentation of the informational overlay comprise causing presentation of the background image and the informational overlay using the light-emitting system.

28. The display system of claim 20, wherein:

the scene comprises a view of a physical environment;

the display device comprises a transparent material through which the physical environment is viewed, a light-emitting system coupled to the transparent material, and a light-blocking system coupled to the transparent material to at least partially block light from one or more portions of the scene;

the causing of the presentation of the background image using the light-blocking system; and

the causing of the presentation of the informational overlay using the light-emitting system.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors of a machine, cause the machine to operations comprising:

accessing contrast enhancement data describing at least a portion of a background image for presentation under an informational overlay on a display device;

the informational overlay comprising at least one of a graphical element or a textual element to partially obscure a scene;

accessing scene change data indicating a change in the scene;

based on the scene change data, identifying at least a portion of the informational overlay under which the background image is to be presented;

causing, on the display device, presentation of the background image atop a portion of the scene corresponding to the at least a portion of the informational overlay; and

causing presentation of the informational overlay atop the background image and the scene on the display device.